Jellied Beef - A Taste From Childhood

Day 121: As my readers may recall, I am not a big fan of beef. However, when I was young, my favourite sandwich meat was jellied beef, and my mother had to keep a close watch on me to keep me from grabbing slices of it out of the fridge, rolling them up into a cylinder and gobbling them down without benefit of bread. By the time I was in high school, jellied beef was already waning in popularity with people in general, and by 1970 or so, it had pretty much disappeared from grocery store shelves. Every now and then, I would get a hankering for it and go searching, but even the rare deli which carried head cheese (another treat) never seemed to have jellied beef. It never occurred to me to look for a recipe to make my own until a week or so ago, but when I did, the internet was not forthcoming. I could find plenty of recipes for that horrible pulverized stuff with the pimiento-stuffed green olives in it, but no jellied beef. Joy of Cooking was no help either. Then I had a thought: "What about the Encyclopedic Cookbook?" The 1950 edition which had belonged to my husband's mother came through with "Jellied Melange," first for chicken, then ham, and then beef. I decided it was worth a try. I took a mortgage on the house, bought 3/4 pound of beef stew chunks and a box of Knox Gelatin. The rest is history. I have successfully created the taste I have been craving since childhood. I should have used a smaller loaf pan as a mold, but you know what they say: size doesn't matter. It's jellied beef, and it's yummy!

My adaptation of the recipe isn't rocket science, so don't fret too much about the amount of beef and/or broth. Just keep it "close enough for gov'mint work."

3/4 - 1 pound beef stew chunks (or if you can afford it, use a better cut, cubed)
1 16-ounce can beef broth
salt and pepper to taste
2 envelopes Knox unflavoured gelatin
1/4 - 1/3 cup cold water

Cook the beef in the broth until it is tender and can be shredded easily. I used my crock-pot and it took about 2 1/2 hours on high. Obviously, there will be some reduction in the amount of broth, but there should be about 1 - 1/2 cups remaining. Remove the beef chunks from the broth and shred them finely. Put the beef and broth in a pan on top of the stove and add salt and pepper to taste. Soften the gelatin in cold water for a couple of minutes, then add it to the broth/beef and bring the mixture to a boil. Pour into a loaf pan. Cool slightly before placing in the refrigerator for at least three hours. To remove, loosen the sides of the loaf with a knife, then set the pan in hot water for a minute or so. Turn out over a board, shaking the pan if it wants to stick. Using a very sharp knife, slice thinly for sandwiches.